"The very first time she saw a baby born, Maggie knew: This was her moment." Dr. Maggie Claymore, a 39-year-old neonatologist at a hospital in Boston, is not just good at her job, she is her job. Real-life pediatrician Klass (Other Women's Children
; A Not Entirely Benign Procedure
) has come up with an absorbing medical thriller that takes as its focus the aura of authority and remove that comes with the M.D. Claymore is so intent on the myriad exacting tasks and the drama and high-stakes decisions involved in saving the very youngest premature lives that she doesn't pick up her head to notice the impact that her aggressive medicine is having on her fellow physicians. It comes as an appalling surprise to her when she receives an anonymous letter attacking her competence and her character. "Maybe you think you stupid, evil, self-satisfied woman that everyone is fooled by you but it is not true!!!" Soon, the letters to Claymore become letters to nursing supervisors accusing Claymore of unhooking a young patient from her monitors and allowing her to die out of a belief that "children with birth defects and other problems are better off dead." Finally, after the wild accusations and personal attacks start showing up on signs posted around the hospital, Claymore's increasingly public nightmare comes to include a hospital lawyer; a methodical, skeptical private investigator; and Claymore's mentor. Klass creates real suspense and makes Claymore's self-questioning not only plausible but absorbing. Although the tension abates a bit toward the end, this is an entertaining and intelligent twist on a psychological thriller that should appeal to men as well as women. (Feb. 2)
